A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Why beating VT matters

Big win for BC today on a lot of fronts. First of all that was probably our last chance at a quality win before the ACC tournament. (Scary thought, isn't it?) It also showed we could win a close game with a defensive stop and win a game during this prolonged funk from Reggie. Finally, it stopped the bleeding. I don't know how the season will play out, but I feel a little better. Donahue got the guys to play well, made a few adjustments late in the game and we won. Bring on Clemson! Here are my other thoughts. Feel free to leave yours below.

Likes-- Reggie's help D late. I don't know if we give Reggie enough credit for being a smart player. He read and timed the pass perfectly on his steal. It really helped the game.-- Moton's maturity. Loved him driving to the basket and I agree with Donahue that he is probably our best defender.-- Raji and Trapani on the boards. I know they have done new things this year, but both are probably at their best close to the basket, cleaning up the glass.

Dislikes-- Sticking with the small lineup once teams adjust. We played small ball for long stretches (usually with Trapani at Center and with three smallish wings). In the first half, VT kept taking perimeter shots. In the second half they drove and posted up. Yet we kept the small guys out there. Why? It would be one thing if we were lighting it up, but we weren't.-- Tempo. Our tempo has slowed the past couple of games. I know we lost some high scoring games, but I still prefer fast paced/high attempt games to the more methodical style we are playing now. Plus some sloppy passing on the perimeter led to a few easy VT baskets.

9 comments:

What's your definition of quality win? @Clemson, Maryland, @VTech don't qualify? I'll agree that we probably won't win @UNC, but those other three are very winnable. Are you saying we aren't going to win those or that they aren't quality wins?

Mod,I just read your earlier post about recruiting rankings. I agree they are meaningless. There is no way to compare and effectively rate players competing in different parts pf the country. Further, a kid playing for an awful high school team may go unnoticed even though he may be a great player. More food for thought: Only 1 player in today's Super Bowl was rated a 5-star player coming out of high school. One player!

BC is 4-6 in our last 10 games and our best player is in a "funk"...and we squeak by VaTech with a 2 pt. margin. Where's the good news here? I'll have a double shot of that koolaid you're downing 'cause I must have missed the bliss on this win.

The good news here is that we have a new head coach and are in a rebuilding year. If we win one or two more games we're guaranteed to have a better record than last year. I'll take a close win over Virginia Tech especially with Reggie not at his best. And I'll also take a good effort from Trapani, because he's our second best player and it's nice to see good production on both ends from him.